Simon Allen, James Byrne, Barrie Glynn and David Harrison are charged with murdering the 53-year-old while Anna McGinn is accused of assisting an offender
Simon Allen, James Byrne, Barrie Glynn and David Harrison are charged with murdering the 53-year-old while Anna McGinn is accused of assisting an offender
Four men will stand trial later this year charged with the murder of Jackie Rutter. The mum-of-six and grandmother-of-five was shot dead at her home on Meadowbrook Road in Moreton, Wirral, in October 2022.
Simon Allen, James Byrne, Barrie Glynn and David Harrison were last week charged with her murder and possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
They appeared before Liverpool Crown Court this morning, Monday, alongside Anna McGinn, who is accused of assisting an offender in connection with the fatal shooting.
Allen, of no fixed address, is also accused of a further count of arson, which alleges that he set fire to and destroyed a stolen Vauxhall Insignia.
The 54-year-old appeared via video link to HMP Altcourse wearing a black Under Armour tracksuit top and glasses.
Byrne, aged 23 and also of no fixed address, was brought on to the video link from HMP Lowdham Grange in a green and yellow prison issue tracksuit.
Barrie Glynn, aged 46 and of Westway in Heswall, and 58-year-old David Harrison, of Old Meadow Road in Pensby, meanwhile appeared remotely from HMP Liverpool wearing a grey prison issue tracksuit and a black and grey striped t-shirt respectively, with the former sporting long dark hair and a beard and the latter appearing with grey hair and glasses.
McGinn, of Frankby Stiles in Frankby, appeared via video link to HMP Styal wearing black clothing and with long brown hair. Charges against the 25-year-old state that she drove Byrne and a man named Preston Connolly to their respective home address while “knowing or believing them to be guilty of murder”.
All five spoke to confirm their names and dates of birth during a brief hearing and were not asked to enter any pleas, although a trial, lasting six to eight weeks, was scheduled for October 6 2025.
The male defendants were further remanded into custody by the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC ahead of a plea and trial preparation hearing on July 11, with McGinn being released on conditional bail.
The ECHO previously reported that Ms Rutter was shot in her own doorway at around 1.45am on October 30 2022, being struck in the chest in what Merseyside Police described as a “targeted attack”.
One relative said following her death: “Jackie wouldn’t hurt a fly. She was the sweetest woman you could ever meet.
“She was a loving mother. She’d do anything for anybody. She’d give you the last coin in her purse. She was the life and soul of the party. She was one in a million.”
